Have you ever promised something that you can’t deliver? I recently promised to deliver some baked beans, only to find that the cans of baked beans I swear were in the pantry had disappeared. Darn gnomes. I did find ten cans of plain black beans (thank you, Costco!) so I improvised a recipe. They’re a-baking right now, so I’ll have to post an update to let you know how they turned out. In case you want to re-create them at home, here’s the specs: 1 15 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed 1 15 oz can black beans, as-is including all the goo that they’re floating in. Equal parts ketchup, yellow mustard, brown sugar, and molasses (about 1/6 C each) 2 canned chipotle chiles with whatever adobo sauce clings to them (chopped if desired, whole if you don’t want to dirty a cutting board) 1 good shake of cayenne pepper (to taste) Mix all ingredients in a shallow pan (like a pyrex pie plate) and bake at 375 until hot, and hopefully a little crusty on top. Let stand 5 minutes before serving to let the fluid thicken. Taste for salt and pepper, I assume. In a perfect world, I would have thrown in a piece of bacon and some diced onion, but the cupboard was bare. And I did some internet searches for quick baked bean recipes, only to find that they all required several hours of oven time (that’s quick? In what universe?). And, inexplicably, several recipes called for cans of baked beans. Hello, if I had cans of baked beans, I wouldn’t need a recipe for baked beans!! Update: Some good smells are wafting from the kitchen. I’m optimistic. Update 2: These turned out incredibly delicious! I didn't add any salt or pepper, and baked them for about 45 minutes, stirring partway through. I didn't miss the bacon or onions at all. Wow. I'll be making these a LOT this summer.